Alien Workshop is a Dayton, Ohio based company, established by Chris Carter, Neil Blender and Mike Hill in 1990. They have gone through several ownership changes, including a period of being owned and operated by Burton Snowboards, but have persevered and become one of the top skateboard brands today. Alien Workshop has faced several turbulent challenges with varying outcomes, however they have remained dedicated to providing a high quality, yet also affordable boards. We like Alien Workshop for their innovative designs and conscience effort to make a great board, that many can afford. Their high quality boards has allowed them to become one of the best rated skateboard brands today.
If you want to be able to practice your new hobby anywhere and everywhere, the Fade is an excellent choice. This is a short skateboard that measures only 27 inches long, made of lightweight (yet still durable) plastic. That means it’s easy to toss into a backpack and carry with you on your commute, to school, or anywhere. It’ll also fit into a locker at the gym or school quite easily.
If you didn’t already know, the “nose” of a skateboard is typically the front and the “tail” is the back. When you fall or slip and your board slams into curbs, fences, or other hard objects, it’s common for the wooden ends to chip or become damaged upon impact. Over time these chips can make it harder to preform tricks and even just cruise around. These chips can be prevented by buying a carbon fiber or non-wood deck, or by there are some metal edges available that can be installed on the nose and tail.
Moving on to our favorite pick from the Plan B series, Plan B Skateboard Complete Felipe Victory 7.6″ Tensor Assembled, suitable for all kinds of riders, but is an ideal skateboard for intermediate skateboard riders. The deck is made from 100% North American maple and measures 7,6 inches. Its wheels are 52mm TGM wheels which means it is excellent for both street and park skating. We also love its lightweight trucks and heavy-duty aluminium with grade 8 steel kingpins and axles plus the bushings (USA made) and pivot cups. The bearings are rated 5 on the ABEC scale.
The board itself is actually very portable in the sense that it only weighs a modest four pounds. Which means you can jump on and off in any situation that may warrant you to walk or ride. The ABEC7 bearings are top quality bearings and of the highest class. Also accompanying all of these fine features comes the kick-tail end of the board. This is to ensure that maneuvering and tricks can be performed with this utmost of ease.

In the skateboarding world, there is considerable shuffling of the famous top brands as not many of them manage to stay in the spotlight for long. This continuous reshuffling paves way for new skateboard brands to come into the spotlight. However, it is important to note that no two brands are the same and comparing them is difficult but the following list has been created by extensive research of the saturated skateboard market and features the best skateboard brands out there that you must give a try.

Mark Gonzalez can do no wrong, and as long as he is at the head of Krooked, Krooked will be in the conversation. Krooked has been the Gonz’s brainchild for some time now, always featuring a great selection of his unique style of art and illustration. No brand can be held up by one man alone, and the Gonz has made sure to keep his selection of riders carefully picked, with each one bringing their own offerings to the table. Brad Cromer is not Ronnie Sandoval is not Mike Anderson, yet somehow it all works out and comes together to create one of the best brands out.
It’s long deck and premium bearings will give you the ease of pushing which will help you to tear out of around- town traveling. It has a unique shape of the perimeter which offers you 9.6 inches of leverage per turn. Can you imagine it? It also helps you to eliminate the wheel bite. This board has a maple covered deck that will certainly catch the attention of others. It is almost impossible that you cease to enjoy the splendor and elegance of this board. Furthermore, along with your stylish longboard, 245 mm axles are incorporated.
If you’re a beginner and you want a board that gives you a little of everything to discover, you cannot go wrong with this ENJOI board. You get everything you need, all ready to go out of the box, and made with professional-grade components. The ENJOI also earns points for having that classic cool artwork on the deck that makes it fun to show off at the park.
Mark Gonzalez created bLind Skateboards in 1989, and shortly after initiated a pro team for his skateboard brand. The bLind brand is known for higher durability due to their innovative features. The boards released by bLind are developed and marketed for hardcore skaters and top other skateboarding brands. We like that bLind goes all out providing one of the strongest boards out there, and without sacrificing the flex needed for tricks. They also do it all with a sick style and an innovative business plan that has made them one of the top skateboard brands.
Rodney Mullen and Marc Johnson originally formed Enjoi Skateboards, one of the most innovative skateboarding brands. With the help of other professional skateboarders, they created the infamous “A-Team”, a group of skateboarders representing Enjoi. They have seen many changes over the years and have said goodbye to many great members of the Enjoi team. However, the one consistent trait is that they have continued to stand behind their signature panda boards, which are unique to other skateboarding brands. This is an all-around good brand providing quality boards great for beginners, which makes them a great skateboarding brand.
Powell Skateboards is one of the original skateboard companies who dates back to 1978 and who has consistently been a top skateboard brand. If you or someone you know skated in the 1980’s, chances are it was on a Powell skateboard. Though Powell had a short lived split between cofounders, George Powell and Stacy Peralta, they regrouped to produce “top of the line” skateboards under the Powell Classic name and succeeded in becoming one of the most successful skateboard companies. Something stuck through that split and they made the list for clear understanding of the fundamentals of a quality skateboard and easily became a perfect quality skateboard brand..
If you are looking to buy a reliable skateboard that will keep you busy for years to come, the Whitey Panda is the ideal choice. It’s a very good entry-level skateboard that can be put through a lot of wear and tear. The solid, metal skateboard trucks ensure that you will be kept sturdy and safe both on and off the ground. This helps the rider feels more confident when doing tricks, no matter where they are.
If you are completely new to skateboarding, consider taking a minute to read through the Skateboard Decks Section in our Buyer’s Guide will be helpful, but a good rule of thumb is: the bigger your feet, the wider your board should be. If you wear a size 9 and up, you can’t go wrong with buying an 8” board. Narrow boards are easier to flip while wider boards are more stable, but there are no hard and fast rules to skateboarding. The only way to really find out what you like is by trying new shapes, sizes, and brands. Brands like Welcome, Baker, Chocolate, Deathwish, and Element all have a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and graphics.
One of the earliest sponsored skateboarders, Patti McGee, was paid by Hobie and Vita Pak to travel around the country to do skateboarding exhibitions and to demonstrate skateboarding safety tips. McGee made the cover of Life magazine[21] in 1965 and was featured on several popular television programs—The Mike Douglas Show, What's My Line? and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson—which helped make skateboarding even more popular at the time.[22][23][24] Some other well known surfer-style skateboarders of the time were Danny Bearer, Torger Johnson, Bruce Logan, Bill and Mark Richards, Woody Woodward, & Jim Fitzpatrick.
Powell has made sure to provide their customers with more than one design of one of their most sought-after skateboards. The Golden Dragon 2 is very similar to its predecessor, the Golden Dragon and is just as reliable as its sister model. When it comes to skateboarding, you can’t ask for a better board than the Golden Dragon 2. It’s durable, firm and thanks to the concave skateboard deck design, will allow you to do many tricks. Tricks, that other boards could possibly not support as well.
In 2003 Go Skateboarding Day was founded in southern California by the International Association of Skateboard Companies[53] to promote skateboarding throughout the world. It is celebrated annually on June 21 "to define skateboarding as the rebellious, creative celebration of independence it continues to be."[54][55][56][57][58] According to market research firm American Sports Data the number of skateboarders worldwide increased by more than 60 percent between 1999 and 2002—from 7.8 million to 12.5 million.[59]
Polar’s focus on its European roots and representing a type of skateboarding that everyone could relate to, plus Pontus’ masterful approach to video-making and product, created a groundswell of popularity for the brand which has retained its momentum. Mixing a heavy global team with an eclectic approach to soft goods, Polar is now viewed as one of the most influential brands in the skateboard industry as a whole.

Powell Peralta has gained increasing popularity in the 1980s, when skateboarding became an increasingly more sought-after action sports. Since then, they have been developing skateboards tailored to customers, taking reviews and critiques into consideration every time they were building a new model. The Powell Golden Dragon is a direct result of such careful consideration and tailored-modeling.
Progressive designs deliver a more dramatic upward curve and a wider base, providing increasingly secure footing and a locked-in feel. The W-concave shape is more narrow with an additional center curve, allowing for a greater shift in energy between the heel and toe. This design also boasts more responsive control and quick turning capabilities. Tub concave decks resemble the radial shape, however their rails extend at a sharp angle instead of a gradual curve. Asymmetrical decks feature rails that extend at different angles, affording more power to a rider's heels when making turns. Less commonly used are decks with convex and completely flat shapes. Convex boards offer an upwards-arching shape, which some downhill skateboarders prefer for a more natural feel, whereas flat designs increase available foot space and are more popular for experienced riders looking to perform fancy tricks.

Skateboarding during the 1990s became dominated by street skateboarding. Most boards are about 7 1⁄4 to 8 inches (180 to 200 mm) wide and 30 to 32 inches (760 to 810 mm) long. The wheels are made of an extremely hard polyurethane, with hardness (durometer) approximately 99A. The wheel sizes are relatively small so that the boards are lighter, and the wheels' inertia is overcome quicker, thus making tricks more manageable. Board styles have changed dramatically since the 1970s but have remained mostly alike since the mid-1990s. The contemporary shape of the skateboard is derived from the freestyle boards of the 1980s with a largely symmetrical shape and relatively narrow width. This form had become standard by the mid '90s.[42]

Jump up ^ Williamson, Elizabeth (October 11, 2013). "Skateboarders See a (Kick) Flip Side to the Government Closing: With Washington Plazas Empty and Patrols Down, a Banned Sport Is Suddenly On" (video). The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Edition. Retrieved March 30, 2017. One positive thing about the gov't shutdown – spots at gov't buildings are now skateable – Darren Harper, Pro Skateboarder, via Facebook.

Presenting to you, the next in line for top skateboard brands; Powell Peralta. Established back in 1978, Powell Peralta is perhaps one of the most well-known names in the skateboarding world. It was launched at a time when skateboarding was gaining traction and Powell Peralta rose to prominence. Powell Peralta is also known for featuring the Bones Brigade, which was a team featuring the top players of that time. Peralta left the company in between but both the partners reunited to create magic in the skateboarding community.

The hoopla team helped to publicize just how well women can skate, and helped to create an onramp to skating's main road. Young girls and women have taken this opportunity so seriously, that they are no longer content to be part of a separate but equal skate community. In this era of the "Me Too" movement, shattered glass ceilings, and equality of pay, women have chosen to participate on each major company’s skateboard team, instead of supporting brands like hoopla, created just for women.
In 1976, skateboarding was transformed by the invention of the ollie by Alan "Ollie" Gelfand. It remained largely a unique Florida trick until the summer of 1978, when Gelfand made his first visit to California. Gelfand and his revolutionary maneuvers caught the attention of the West Coast skaters and the media where it began to spread worldwide. The ollie was adapted to flat ground by Rodney Mullen in 1982. Mullen also invented the "Magic Flip," which was later renamed the kickflip, as well as many other tricks including, the 360 Kickflip, which is a 360 pop shove-it and a kickflip in the same motion. The flat ground ollie allowed skateboarders to perform tricks in mid-air without any more equipment than the skateboard itself, it has formed the basis of many street skating tricks. A recent development in the world of trick skating is the 1080, which was first ever landed by Tom Schaar in 2012.[73][74]
Even in their amazing collection of skateboards, extensive research helped us uncover the best skateboard of Powell Peralta for you guys. It is the top skateboard of Powell Peralta in terms of the amazing value it offers to its customers. With that said, we present to you the Powell Golden Dragon Flying Dragon. Let me tell you this, the users of this product are in LOVE with it.
Welcome is doing everything the way that people would probably tell you not to when it comes to how they run their board company. With no real full-length project out since it became a company, and with no pros to name, but boasting a full roster of official riders, Welcome is as unorthodox of a skate company as it gets. They don’t even make a single board in the traditional popsicle shape most boards are made today.
There are actually several types of skateboards but the most common ones are the longboard, cruiser, and carve skateboards. A longboard is usually at least 33 inches. It is a great mode of transportation and works well for cruising around. The cruiser also works well as a mode of transportation but many consider it more beneficial as it has a shorter skateboard, which promotes ease in transporting around.
Grind King skateboard trucks are the best trucks available for grinding. The truck hangar is made from aluminum, making it softer and weaker, but better for grinding. This means you will have to replace them faster if you grind, but your grinds will be smoother and better. Grind King trucks do use special hex-head kingpins, so you will need a special tool to adjust them.
There are actually several types of skateboards but the most common ones are the longboard, cruiser, and carve skateboards. A longboard is usually at least 33 inches. It is a great mode of transportation and works well for cruising around. The cruiser also works well as a mode of transportation but many consider it more beneficial as it has a shorter skateboard, which promotes ease in transporting around.
New in the top 16 ranking, but still an old stager in the business. In 2016 you gladly put Anti Hero decks under your feet, which is not surprising regarding the neat designs and the high quality of the boards. The brand stands for 100% skateboarding without high life and frills. It’s all about ripping it. Get your Anti Hero deck at skatedeluxe from 52.99 € | 45.00 GBP!
Based out of Huntington Beach, California, Good Skateboards is a grassroots inspired skate brand specializing in quality boards. Skateboarding isn’t about what you do, but how you do it. That’s Good Skateboard’s mission and they’re sticking to it! The brand is committed to supplying the skating industry with positive vibes and exceptional products that make you appreciate skateboarding all over again. Good Skateboards decks are constructed from 100% Canadian maple and made in the USA. Their decks are classic in board style and feature fun artwork from artist Vincenzo Colonna. In addition to decks, they also offer branded tees and accessories featuring their iconic “Ok” hand gesture logo. Good Skateboards t-shirts have similar graphics to what you see on their decks. You’ll see the same artwork on their stickers too!
Girl skateboards are know for their witty graphics and high quality canadian maple decks. This specific complete features Mike Carroll’s pro deck and it comes fully assembled directly from the manufacturer (Girl). The reason this is such a great option for beginners is that all parts of this complete are truly pro quality and it’s built to last. The width is also perfect for all ages and shoe sizes at a moderate 7.8″. Definitely a great skateboard for beginners if you like the graphic and logo.
Choosing a skateboard deck is a great place to start when building a complete skateboard. Unless you have experience riding a shaped board - something a little more retro or unusual, we recommend you start with a popsicle shape. CCS carries over 60 different skateboard deck brands that sell this popular popsicle shape. If you have questions on what size you should ride or have any other questions about building a complete, we recommend you check out our Skateboard Buyer’s Guide. Here, you’ll find helpful how-to’s for choosing a skateboard decks, skateboard trucks, skateboard wheels, skateboard bearings, and skateboard components. This guide explains every part of a skateboard and helps you choose which sizes and styles to best suit your needs.
Tony Hawk and Per Welinder developed the Birdhouse Projects Skateboard Company following the decline professional skateboarding saw in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. Tony Hawk gave the Birdhouse Projects name instant notoriety and made it into one of the professional skateboard brands in the world. Many skaters who have followed Hawk, have faithfully chosen a birdhouse skateboard. Birdhouse grabs the third place spot with their boards that are built to last and also provide maneuverability and for being a top rated skateboard brand.
Sending sincere thanks to everyone that supported us over the last decade – including team riders, fans, customers, photographers, filmers, & mags. Thanks to George & Juli Powell & everyone at Skate One Corp. who believed in us & helped facilitate our vision. Thanks most of all to Cara-Beth Burnside for whom without her influence, leadership, & no-bullshit-spirit none of this would have ever been possible.
A “razor tail” is the term for when the tail of the skateboard deck becomes sharpened and worn due regular use and scraping the tail of your skateboard on the ground to stop. When your deck gets razor tail, its becomes a weapon against you and anyone need you while you’re skating as being hit with a sharpened tail is very painful. To avoid this from happening, you could buy a carbon fiber deck that may be more resistant to wear, but more importantly you should not scrape your tail to stop. Instead you can lightly place one foot or toe down to slow your speed or powerslide to a stop.
The National Skate Co‘s approach to marketing retained this air of intrigue with the release of their first video, ‘The National Skateboard Co. Promo‘ in 2013 with minimal promotion beforehand. This promo video featured lo-fi VX2000 footage of original team members Thomas Harrison, Danijel Stankovic, David Mackey, Joshua Young, Vaughan Jones and Neil Smith interspersed with found footage and black and white news reel clips.

Founder Richard Novak is also widely credited as creating the skateboard industry as we know it today by establishing skateboarding as a separate culture and business by wrestling the sport away from the control of the roller-skating industry in the early 1970’s and promoting it through sponsoring events, supporting the nascent skateboard magazine culture, pioneering technologies within skateboard, truck and wheel construction and establishing the edgy cultural identity of skateboarding from the very beginning.

Using 12 years of experience in manufacturing skateboards, Penny Skateboards was created to offer the skateboarding community high performance and high quality plastic skateboards. The brand focuses on creating each Penny skateboard with attention to detail and with the best raw materials. Not only are they meant to look good, but are meant to work just as good if not better.

Welcome is doing everything the way that people would probably tell you not to when it comes to how they run their board company. With no real full-length project out since it became a company, and with no pros to name, but boasting a full roster of official riders, Welcome is as unorthodox of a skate company as it gets. They don’t even make a single board in the traditional popsicle shape most boards are made today.

Let me tell you this, Santa Cruz has a huge variety of high quality everything-skateboard so naturally picking out the best skateboard of the best was a hard task. But as usual, we have a clear winner; the Santa Cruz Youth Land Shark Cruzer, Rasta. If you are a part of the skateboarding community, there is a high chance that you might have heard about this skateboard. Intricately crafted with the best quality materials, it is one of the best skateboards in town.

Proper skateboard wheels are made out of polyurethane with minimal additives. Toy skateboard wheels can be made of plastic or a low quality poly mix which leads to poor performance in the best case and even outright dangerous situations with cracked wheels in the worst case. This is a case where brand recognition and reputation can come into play.
The DreadXBoards Concave Skateboard has Plastic Deck Injection Molded for excellent durability. It features Urethane Wheels 59mm 78a, aluminum trucks, and Abec 7 Bearings. It is completely assembled and is ready to ride. It is perfect for beginners or experienced riders. It can load up to 185 lbs. It is great for kids and adults. It has an excellent rating of 4 on Amazon.

There are actually several types of skateboards but the most common ones are the longboard, cruiser, and carve skateboards. A longboard is usually at least 33 inches. It is a great mode of transportation and works well for cruising around. The cruiser also works well as a mode of transportation but many consider it more beneficial as it has a shorter skateboard, which promotes ease in transporting around.

Unfortunately, there is no one skateboard that is ideal for beginners, and choosing Skateboards for them can be difficult. Learners come in different sizes, weights and heights, and that’s why it can be difficult to generalize. It also depends on what you want to do with your skateboard as a beginner, and whether you will be using it for cruising, tricks or both. Regardless, there are a few guidelines that can help you decide which beginner skateboard is perfect for you, all of which we listed above and below!

A “razor tail” is the term for when the tail of the skateboard deck becomes sharpened and worn due regular use and scraping the tail of your skateboard on the ground to stop. When your deck gets razor tail, its becomes a weapon against you and anyone need you while you’re skating as being hit with a sharpened tail is very painful. To avoid this from happening, you could buy a carbon fiber deck that may be more resistant to wear, but more importantly you should not scrape your tail to stop. Instead you can lightly place one foot or toe down to slow your speed or powerslide to a stop.
The Rimable Complete 22″ Skateboard is the most compact street board that are ready-to-use. It is best for exercise and fun, and very portable. There are five colors that you can choose from Black, Blue, White, Purple, and Green. It has high-quality construction, with a high-density plastic deck. It features extremely smooth 59mm wheels along with ABEC7 bearings and solid aluminum trucks. It measures 22″ long and 6″ wide and weighs 4 pounds. It has the best rating of 4.3 on Amazon.
Be sure to purchase from a reputable source. Buying online might save you a few dollars, but try your local skate shop first. The few extra dollars you spend support the shop and your local skate community. Developing a good relationship with a local skate shop often saves you money in the long run. The completes are not as good as custom made, but you can get them for a lot less money and upgrade any bad components later.
The logo is the powerful icon that represents the company's legacy, while graphic styles tend to ebb and flow. Just as skateboarding has evolved and changed over the decades, the skateboard logo has as well, for better and for worse. Picking out the top 50 logos in skateboarding isn't an easy task. Do you separate the logo from the company and base it on visual appeal? I think that's impossible given the nature of skating. Ultimately, these are logos from companies that built the landscape of skateboarding from the ground up. So you have to take into consideration the impact of the brand as well as the logo it represents. If a logo has personal importance to you, then that's all that matters. My list is only one opinion and forged from jumping into skateboarding in 1984.
It's too cold and dark to skate in Sweden for about six months out of the year. That must be when brand mastermind/artist Pontus Alv schemes on the global takeover he's been orchestrating for Polar. Not only are the brand's hats, tees, and hoodies some of the most coveted gear in the skate universe, the Polar team travels the globe hosting events, filming video clips, and getting people hyped on vigilante-style street skating. Look for Polar to come to your hood and build awesome, illegal concrete skate obstacles under a bridge, then bounce like gnarly, European skate tooth fairies. Good luck finding a tee or hat at this point—hype has made to goods rare, but let's hope as the excitement grows Mr. Alv will expand his distro.

Isle is much newer to the game than a lot of the other brands mentioned on the list, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same respect. Drawn straight from the mind of skateboarder Nick Jensen, a London native with the eye of a true artist, Isle’s graphics could just as easily be hanging in a museum rather than in skate shops. Jensen’s creative process involves him sculpting, painting and photographing every board graphic himself in his own studio, manipulating each art piece to work as a graphic. Isle offers one of the most well developed brand images in skateboarding, due in big part to the fact that it is literally an outlet of one man’s own rampant creativity.

What began life as a screen-printing business back in 2001 has organically morphed into one of the UK’s most celebrated low-key bedroom brands. After completing a screen-printing and fine arts degree Stuart Smith set up Lovenskate to offer bespoke screen printing services to the skateboard industry and beyond from inside his parents garage. Over time, Lovenskate grew and formally metamorphosed into a skateboard brand back in 2001.